LIFELONG Clarets fan Alastair Campbell tonight explains how watching his beloved Burnley Football Club helps combat his depression.

In an hour long BBC 2 documentary, he talks about how his love of soccer always lifts his spirits.

The Keighley-born 61-year-old, who served as Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair’s spin doctor, talks honestly about his 1980s breakdown, his treatment and recovery and the importance of talking about his condition in ‘Alastair Campbell: Depression And Me’ at 9pm.

The film even features him wearing a Clarets bobble hat as he commentates on Burnley versus Stoke City at Turf Moor in December 2017 when Ashley Barnes’ late winner propels the club to fourth in the Premier League.

Mr Campbell said: “Football and watching Burnley FC, win or lose, always helps.

“It doesn’t make the depression go away but when I’m watching them play it is so intense, I get so involved it eases it for the time being.

“If I am having a bad day watching Burnley FC, whether they play well or badly, makes a difference.

“The documentary includes a sequence where I go to Turf Moor to watch and commentate on the ground with Phil Bird on Burnley versus Stoke.

“There is a sequence as we approach the ground with the camera on me and I smile as I say: ‘We are approaching the greatest stadium in the world’.

“It also shows me winning a sportsman’s bet with Burnley’s catering manager Chris Gibson who gave me a giant woolly Clarets bobble hat and bet me I couldn’t get on TV wearing it.

“I wasn’t going to put it on for Question Time, but there I am in this TV film wearing the hat and my earphones.

“I am at Turf Moor on a cold winter Tuesday night and Burnley win one-nil thanks to Ashley Barnes to go fourth in the Premier League, their highest-ever position, and being a fan doesn’t get better than that.

“Supporting Burnley and the relationships I have built up with fans, players, managers – including Sean Dyche – have alway helped keep me connected to something else, even when I am having a bad time.”

Mr Campbell says he cannot remember when he first started to feel depression and says talking openly about it definitely helped him as had medication and sessions with psychiatrists.

He added: “ I am very proud of the way I rebuilt my life.”